Improvement in cartridge-retractors for breech-loading fire-arms



. UNITED STATES PATENT T. L. STURTEVANT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARTR-lDGE-RETRACTORS FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent iNo. 50,854, dated November7, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TnoMAs L. S'rUa'rE- VANT, of Boston, in the countyof Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Brecon-Loading Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare thesame to be fully described in the following specilication andrepresented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l is alongitudinal section of a :firearm provided with my invention, thebarrel in such section being exhibited with its rear end at its lowestposition relatively to the stationary breech. Fig. 2 is anotherlongitudinal section showing the barrel rnisedatitsrear above the breechand in a position for reception of a cartridge, which, while beinginserted in the barrel, enters it at its rear end, which is open. Fig.3is a side view of the grooved cam applied to the barrel. Fig. 4 is anedge view of the trigger-guard lever.

In carrying out my present invention, I combine with the barrel andstock and the triggerguard lever, substantially as hereinafterspecilied, a pin or stud and a grooved cam or projection, so made thatduring the movements of the lever on its fnlcrum such cam and stud willnot only raise and depress the barrel relatively to a stationary breech,but maintain such barrel in a position above the breech for a periodlong enough' for a cartridge or the shell or remains of a cartridge tobe expelled from its rear end and a fresh cartridge to be introduced atsuchend into the barrel.

My said invention avoids the employment of a spring to depress thebarrel, and causes its depression to be effected wholly by the meansadopted for raising it.

By dispensing with the spring acting sepaA rarely from the lever ormeans employed for elevating the barrel., I avoid the difficulties incident to a spring and insure a positive and determinate action of thebarrel at all times with respect to the stock and breech 5 and infurther carrying outmy invention, I apply to the cartridge-shelldiseharger an arm and spring, and to the barrel a pin or its equivalent7and I so arrange the same together and with respect t the trigger-guardlever that such lever, during its movement for raising the breech end ofthe barrel, shall so operate against the said arm as to cause thecartridge-shell discharger to be forced rearward, the arm in themeantime being released from the lever by means of the pin, againstwhich the arm will be moved by the discharger. During the forwardmovement of the diseharger the spring of the arm will restore the saidarm toits rearmost position or that in which it will be ready for beingmoved by the lever.

In the drawings, A denotes the barrel, and B the stock, of a fire-arm,such barrel being held to the stock by such a hinge-joint, a, as willenable the barrel to be moved. with respect to the stock from theposition as shown in Fig. 1 into that as represented in Fig. 2, the rearend of the barrel in the one case being against and so as to be closedby a stationary breech or abutment, O. In the other case the said end isshown as elevated above such abutment, and open to allow either theexpulsion of a cartridge-shell from the barrel or the introduction of acartridge at such end into the barrel.

For elevating the barrel, I make use of a lever, D, which turns on afnlerum, b, extentiing transversely through the stock. The longer arm,d, of this lever answers as a guardfor the trigger c of the lock. Theshorter arm, e, has a pin or stud, e', extending from it laterally andinto a curved groove, j', made in a plate, g', which is attached to oneside ot' a projection or block, h, applied t0 the lower part of thebarrel and arranged with respect to the lower edge of such block inmanner vas shown in the drawings.

The block h is channeled lengthwise to support the cartridge-shelldscharger F, which slides freely within the block, andhas aspring, s,for retracting it, such spring being applied to the disch'arger F at itsfront end and also to a pin, t, extending from the barrel. At its rearend the discharger extends up into the rear part of the barrel, so as tocome in front of the ange of a cartridge-shell when in the barrel.Furthermore, there is hinged to the diseharger an arm, 7c, which ispressed downward by a spring, l, arranged as shownin Figs. l and 2. Apin or-stud, m, goes through the block h, and is so disposed thereinthat during a rearward movement of the cartridge-shell discharger causedby the lever D such pin shall force the'arm k upward and away from thelever in order that the spring Z may retract the said discharger. Bylaying hold of the longer arm of the leverD and moving it downward in adirection away from the stock the actionof the stud c on the upper sideot' the groove f will canse the elevation ot' the rear end of the barrelabove the breech C. A reverse motion of the lever will cause the saidstud, by its action on the lower side of the groove f, to depress thcbarrel back into place into the stock. By means ofthe groove j' and thestud I am enabled to dispense with a spring for effecting the depressionof the barrel and to insure such by means of the lever. So, by means ofthe stud m, combined with the block h and with the arm 7c and spring l,applied to the cartridge-shell discharger, as specied, and also with thegroovef and the pin e', I am enabled to insure the reversed motion ofthe dscharger. When a spring is employed to depress the barrel and thebarrel has no direct connection with the trigger-guard lever the barrelwill be liable to be thrown up so as to prematurely disengage thecartridge-shell discharger from the lever, in which case the saiddischarger may fail to expel the cartridge or its shell from the barrel;but with my improved mechanism the movements ofthe barrel are socontrolled by the stud c and the groove f as to render certain theproper action of the discharger with respect to the cartridge or itsshell.

What, therefore, I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination andarrangement of the tripping-stud m, the arm 7c, and the lspring l withthe block h or the barrel A, the cartridgeshell discharger F, and thelever D.

2. The combination and arrangement 0f the groove f and the stud e withthe barrel A and the lever D, the cartridge-shell discharger F, and thestud m, the arm 7c, and the spring l, arranged and applied to the saiddischarger and barrel substantially as specified.

. T. L. STURTEVANT.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr.

